I Love A Rainy Night
by Chelsea Oz
Summary: Just a typical rainy night at the bar. This is a one shot that takes place in season one. Enjoy!


Sam Malone loved nothing better than a rainy, summer night. Especially the ones that came in August because that meant there was a more than welcome cold front coming in after endless humid days. Every Bostonian looked forward to the August cool downs despite the fact that in five more months they would all be bitching and moaning about the seemingly endless cold.

Why did Sam really like nights like this, though? Because these nights seemed to bless him with more customers. He could only guess that it was because some people finally wanted to be out and walk around the city while it was comfortable. It didn't matter if it was raining; besides, Sam figured everyone ought to know by now that Boston was heavy with precipitation with being close to the Atlantic and all. Damn the poor schmuck that didn't own a raincoat or a winter coat.

"Good evening, everyone," Norm Peterson greeted as he walked in.

"Norm!" Sam and his co-worker/mentor/best friend, Coach cried out in response.

"What are you up to Norm?" Sam asked as he poured him a frothy mug of beer.

"No good according to the doctor's scale," Norm replied. Sam couldn't help but laugh at that.

"Sam," Coach said, disgusted. "Don't laugh about his weight problem; it's not nice!"

"I laugh at it," Norm defended himself with a shrug and a swig of his beer.

"So don't the rest of us," Carla Tortelli snickered as she walked in the door.

"Hey, you're a couple minutes late there, Carla," Sam said as he checked out his watch.

"Oh yeah, well where's your girl Sleeping Beauty, huh?" She shot back, getting defensive.

"Sleeping Beauty, Carla?" Coach asked, bewildered. "That's a new one."

"Yeah, Coach," she said, going around the bar to pick up her tray. "I would call her Cinderella but Cinderella actually worked."

"Carla, behave yourself," Sam warned.

"Why?"

"Because I said so."

"Get real!"

That was when they saw a pair of legs walk down the stairs. Carla got herself ready to take on this customer that was arriving and was surprised to see that those legs belonged to Diane. She shocked everyone with wearing a mini-skirt to work. It was very uncharacteristic of her to do such a thing but there she was.

"Well, Goldilocks," Carla remarked, eyeing her like prey. "Which one of those three bears over there are you trying to impress."

"None of them," Diane said as she whisked her hair back. "I just thought I would like a change of wardrobe."

"You look very nice, honey," Coach commented.

"Sure," Norm somewhat agreed.

"What do you think, Sam?" Diane asked, twirling her hair like a school girl.

"Get to work," Sam said while Carla hooted with laughter. Diane couldn't help but feel a little put off by Sam's indifference. Just as she was beginning to sigh, Diane noticed he turned around to wink at her. That made Diane smile and it made Carla's eyes bug with dare she say envy?

The night would go on like any other. Cliff showed up not long after Diane's arrival and talked about his new mail run to anyone who would listen. Slim Paul would try to get Cliff's goat everytime but Norm would always be there to help smooth things over. There were a couple of groups of good looking women who came in and Sam would be characteristically checking them out. Norm and Carla would notice that he would look over at Diane to make sure she wasn't looking at him look at them.

"They're not even a couple and he acts whipped over her," Carla whispered in Norm's ear as she went to go get one of her orders.

That was when a group of bikers showed up at the bar. They had long hair, beards, tatoos and non-threatening attitudes. They were the kind of guys that got Carla's motor running and it wasn't long before she was playing kind hostess. All the guys watched as Carla's piggish charm did little to stir up the guys' fancy. They just wanted to order and get her out of their hair. At the time Carla gave up and went back to her job was when Diane came back from her break.

"Hey, mama!" The head biker called out to her. Diane didn't know what to think when he cat called her.

"Hello," she said, shyly.

"What's cooking, good looking?" Another biker asked.

Carla was going crazy with jealousy and anger over the situation. Who the hell did Diane Chambers think she was? First it was Sam under her spell and now it was those biker guys. What the hell was so special about that woman?

"Oh, stop," Diane said as she turned on her heels and walked away.

"Hey, now, don't go!" The table cried. Carla sneered as she watched Diane walk back to the bar with a red face and a smile. The whole bar was looking at her with smiles on their faces with Sam having the biggest one.

"Hey, you're a hit," Sam said as he rubbed her hair.

"One mini-skirt and the men go nuts around here," Diane said with a shrug. Carla had to leave before she puked everywhere.

"Don't pay her any attention. You're a person to be admired," he said as he finished the biker's orders.

"You really think so?"

"Yeah, tell you what..."

"What?"

"I'd admire you more if you delivered these drinks to them," he said as he handed her the heavy tray.

"I like it here," she said with genuinity.

"Me too," Sam agreed as he watched her walk up to be admired once more by those group of guys. He hoped she knew he was admiring her, too.


End file.
